I always love to find a deal on an already cheap cut of meat....but the creativity comes when figuring out how to turn that tough meat into a tender, delicious supper. This was my culinary dilemma when I found beef blade steaks for $1.50 a pound. I was pretty sure I had solved the problem with this recipe though....I mean come on....smothering the steak in a sauce made of balsamic vinegar and sauteed mushrooms? Seriously.

The sauce was just as heavenly as I thought it would be. Tart, slightly sour but full of rich body from the mushrooms and beef broth. And my cheap steak find? Horribly tough and chewy!

So here's the lesson to the story: use a quality steak when frying or grilling, and use tougher steaks like blade for stewing and slow cooking. Just because you douse a cheap steak in a delicious sauce does not make it less like a meaty bubblegum...it just makes it a tasty meaty bubblegum :)

This recipe is definitely worth making...just don't use meat as tough as rubber.


Recipe from Gourmet Magazine
__________________________________________________________________________________

Serves 4


4 steaks or 2 large steaks cut in half (about 1 1/4 lbs in total) Use whatever cut you like best
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp finely chopped shallot, or 1/4 finely diced onion
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup plus 2 tsp beef broth
3/4 tsp cornstarch


Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat with about a tbsp of oil until nice and hot. Put the steaks in the pan and cook about 4-6 minutes per side. This should make them about medium-rare. Remove the steaks from the pan, place on a platter and cover with aluminum foil. Sitting on the platter they will cook to medium. If you like your steaks more done than this, feel free to adjust the cooking time.

While the steaks are resting, add butter to the frying pan along with mushrooms and shallots (or onion) and saute until the mushrooms are browned and tender, about 4 minutes. Once they are done cooking, add them to the platter with the steaks.

Add the vinegar and soy sauce to the pan, making sure to scrape up the delicious browned bits on the bottom. Let cook about 2 minutes and then add broth and let simmer. While the sauce is simmering, add remaining 2 tsp of broth to a cup with the cornstarch. Stir them together and add to the pan and stir well. As it starts to simmer it will thicken up the sauce. Take the entire plate of steaks and mushrooms and return them to the pan along with any meat juices that have accumulated. Turn the steaks over in the sauce letting them get covered and delicious. Serve the steaks with the sauce and mushrooms smothered over top.

Click here for printable version of Steak with Balsamic Mushroom Sauce
__________________________________________________________________________________

THE RESULTS?
Like I said, the sauce was tasty and delectable but the meat was tough and grisly since we used blade steaks. With a nice piece of sirloin this would be an awesome summer meal best enjoyed with a cold drink on the patio ;)

I really love the tastes of summer. Even though I have a carnivorous meat-loving husband, I seem to get away with meatless meals easier in the summer when produce is so delicious and abundant. Combine that with eating out on the patio on warm, sunset nights and I can't wipe the smile off my face. It's gonna be a great week.

Day 1: Steak with Balsamic Mushroom Sauce, Corn on the Cob & Ceasar Salad
Mmmm....anything with balsamic vinegar in it and I am hooked. This meal will be best enjoyed out on the patio.

Day 2: Thai Green Curry over Jasmine Rice
My husband loved this curry so much, I couldn't get away with not making it again this week.

Day 3: Broccoli & Cauliflower Gratin with Garden Salad & Rosemary Flatbread dipped in Balsamic Vinegar & Olive Oil
Broccoli and cauliflower have been on sale lately, so throwing them together with butter, cream and cheese makes this dish pretty hard to say no to. And maybe I'll throw in a little bacon to satisfy my husband's need for meat ;)

Day 4: Pecan Chicken over Salad with Maple BBQ Dressing
A wonderful salad that is so satisfying. I HEART the pecan chicken tenders.

Day 5: Spring Vegetable Lasagna with Garden Salad
Some of my favorite vegetables together in a lemon dill cream sauce and layered with lasagna noodles. Divine.

Day 6: Ginger Maple Glazed Chicken with Japanese Sticky Rice and Broccoli
A super easy, delicious and laid back dinner for the end of the week.


*Check back this week for recipes.


For more meal plan ideas check out my Complete List of Meal Plans or the Menu Plan Monday Links hosted at Orgjunkie.

Dan and Lisa have been inviting Steve and I over quite often and cooking us some authentic Thai food that they learned to make while they were missionaries in Thailand. I can't tell you how obsessed I have become with Thai food. So when the suggestion came to make Thai food for Secret-Secret I jumped all over that. With apprehension. Only because I wanted to make sure I made something delicious and authentic that Dan and Lisa wouldn't turn their noses up at. Not that they ever would, I was just feeling intimidated since I knew they would make something incredible.

Luckily I got over myself and made one of my husband's favorite dishes: Thai Green Curry. It was spicy and rich and coconutty, just the way we like it. I was so happy to have found frozen kaffir lime leaves at our Asian Supermarket. It really added authenticity.


While peppers are hard to come by in Thailand I added them for color and extra flavor. A more authentic vegetable would have been Thai eggplant, but our local grocery store that usually carries them was fresh out. The bamboo shoots were crunchy and a wonderful addition to the curry.
It was served over fragrant Jasmine rice which is one of my favorite rices.


Lindsey busted out these amazingly flavorful and crispy fish cakes with cucumber/peanut relish.

I had seconds of this it was so good. The warm and crispy fish cake was complimented by the cool and crunchy cucumbers. Just lovely.


While living in Thailand, Dan and Lisa had a favorite restaurant they liked to frequent called Jumbo. They loved it so much, one of their cats is named Jumbo. One of their favorite dishes was called Ba Mee Giao Moo Dang. It's essentially a wonton soup with noodles and bits of pork. They said they used to be able to get a large bowl of this at Jumbo for just $0.60!! They have since learned to make it at home here in Canada, but it's not as cheap or quick to make. They said in Thailand when you ordered a bowl of Ba Mee Giao Moo Dang it was quickly assembled and on your table within 2 minutes. At home, it requires the preparation of about 8 or 9 different elements and becomes an all day affair. But it's sooo good and soooooo worth it!

Dan wouldn't tell us everthing that was in it (he was too busy savoring every bite), but what I do know is that the wontons are made of a pork and shrimp mixture, there was red pork (BBQ'd pork), chinese green vegetables, egg noodles, fried garlic and shrimp crisps on top.

The addition of these condiments was really what sent the flavor of this dish over the moon. You had to just keep adding and adjusting the flavors until you got it just how you wanted it.

Everyone's loving the Thai feast.


As a refreshing drink after supper, Joel and Lindsey brought young coconuts. Dan busted out his meat cleaver and chopped a hole in the top of it.



Add a couple of straws and you've got some refreshing coconut water to drink. Very earthy and delicious.



For dessert, Lisa made us some Mango with Sticky Rice and Coconut Milk. It may not look like much but it was SO GOOD. The ripe mango is sliced fresh and placed on top of the sticky rice and warm, sweetened coconut milk is drizzled over top. Lisa didn't have an exact recipe but I found one here.

This night was a fantastic way for me to satisfy my strong Thai cravings. Every dish was so scrumptious and you can bet there'll be more Thai food in our future.

What Thai dishes are your favorite?



*By the way, Sawadee Ka is Thai for hello.

Thai food has become a new obsession for my husband and myself. Our foodie friends Dan & Lisa invite us over every couple of weeks for supper and usually end up cooking us scrumptious and authentic Thai food. I was craving one of the dishes they made so much that I made sure that we went to a Thai restaurant when we were in Vancouver in April. Steve ended up loving his friend Tim's green curry so much I'm pretty sure his "can I have a bite?" turned into eating the rest of the bowl.

He just about crapped his pants when I told him I was going to make it at home.


*Recipe from Rasa Malaysia by Bonbini
____________________________________________________________________

Serves 4


3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 tbsp green curry paste (if you don't like super spicy use less curry paste)
1 can of coconut milk
1 cup bamboo shoots (these are canned and you'll find them in the International food aisle)
3 kaffir lime leaves, split and thinly sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil

In a frying pan over medium heat, add the oil and curry paste and saute. Once you can really smell the curry paste and it's nice and fragrant, add about 1/2 the can of coconut milk and keep stirring until the oils in the curry paste surface. Then add the chicken and lime leaves and let cook until the chicken is almost done. Add the rest of the can of coconut milk, fish sauce, and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the bamboo shoots and red pepper and simmer for 5 minutes just until the bamboo shoots are soft but the red pepper still has a bit of a crunch. Remove from the heat.

Serve over jasmine rice.

Click here for printable version of Thai Green Curry.

____________________________________________________________________

THE RESULTS?
Spicy and incredibly delicious! My husband kept exclaiming how amazing it was and has asked me several times in the last week when I'm going to make it again. I love that it's super quick and easy to throw together yet yields such delicious results.

Oh man, oh man I totally saved the best for last! They were crunchy and sweet and savory and tangy and everyone loved every bite of these amazing wraps. While I don't often make recipes over and over again, this recipe could easily become one of the ones I do. It's extremely easy and fast to make with incredible results.

There's really not much more to say on the subject. Just make 'em!


Recipe adapted from The Kitchn
__________________________________________________________________________________

Makes 6 wraps



Hoisin-Ginger Pork:
2 cups shredded pork
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 inches of ginger, grated
1/4 cup hoisin sauce (or more as needed to cover the pork)

In a medium saucepan, heat 2 tsp oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir until fragrant about 30-60 seconds. Then add the pork and hoisin sauce. Turn heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 5 minutes until heated through and all the flavors have combined.

Crunchy Peanut Slaw:
1/2 medium head green cabbage, outer leaves removed (or 1 bag of angel hair coleslaw)
3/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup light oil, like canola
1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp sugar (or more, to taste)
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce (or more, to taste)

6 large tortillas, white or whole wheat

Slice the cabbage as fine as you possibly can, so you have little threads of cabbage (I just bought a bag of angel hair coleslaw where this was already done for me). Toss in the peanuts, green onions, and cilantro. Place the oil, rice vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce in a resealable jar and shake. Pour over cabbage mixture and toss until coated.

Serve the hoisin-ginger pork along with the crunchy peanut slaw with tortilla wraps. Place both inside of a tortilla and roll up.


Click here for printable version of Hoisin & Ginger Pork Wraps with Crunchy Peanut Slaw

__________________________________________________________________________________

THE RESULTS?
These were freakin' awesome! My whole family exclaimed this recipe as the favorite among the Slow Roasted Pork Challenge (which actually says a lot, since the other recipes were so yummy as well). The peanut slaw is so good it can stand alone as side dish itself....I actually made it for a family get together not too long ago and everyone loved it. All around this recipe is just fabulous.

Lazy hot days, laying by the pool, cold drinks, BBQ's, dinner on the patio...it all means Summer is here! Living in Canada, the snow has melted, the seeds have been planted and we are able to enjoy the best growing season of the year with beautiful fruits and vegetables. The majority of our fresh fruit is grown in B.C. so fresh fruit stands pop up all over Canada with big ol' red B.C. FRUIT signs. I can't wait to start visiting the fruit stands and having veggies harvested from my Dad's garden passed along to me. What a delicious time of year to plan meals.


Information from Fruits & Veggies: More Matters

In-Season produce for Summer (June, July, August):

VEGGIES:

• Beets
• Bell peppers
• Cucumbers
• Garlic
• Green beans
• Radishes
• Sweet corn
• Summer squash
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini

FRUITS:

• Blueberries
• Cantaloupe
• Cherries
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Honeydew
• Kiwi
• Limes
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Plums
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Watermelon

When researching ideas for using up roasted pork for my Slow Cooked Pork Challenge, I came across this intriguing sandwich. While the Cuban Sandwich may be well known in other parts of the world/country, in lil ol' Southern Alberta, Canada we have none too many Cuban's around. Though this sandwich may not be wildly popular in these parts, its a must that it be tried.

Two kinds of pork, one sweet one savory, gooey melted cheese and crunchy pickles sandwiched between warm and crunchy bread.....it's a fresh new take on a grilled cheese sandwich. And a fabulous way to use up those pork leftovers.

*Recipe from We Are Never Full
______________________________________________________________________

Serves 4

1 loaf of fresh soft Italian bread (or Cuban bread if you can get ahold of it....don't tell anyone that I was completely UN-authentic and bought French bread...it worked...sshhh)
1 1/2 cups leftover shredded pork
4 slices of honey ham
4 slices of swiss cheese (or enough to cover your sandwich)
1-2 deli pickles, sliced
1-2 tbsp mayonnaise
1-2 tbsp Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the bread in half lengthwise and open it up. Smear mayo on one side of the bread and on the other, smear the Dijon mustard. On top of the side with mayo, place the shredded pork, top with slices of honey ham, then swiss cheese, then pickles and place the mustarded bread on top.

Wrap the whole sandwich in tinfoil and place on a baking sheet. You want to place the heaviest oven-proof skillet you can find on top (I used my dutch oven) and place it in the oven for 20-30 minutes (it depends how crispy you want your bread to be).

Remove from oven, cut into 4 equal sandwiches and serve with a salad.

Click here for printable version of Cuban Sandwiches
____________________________________________________________________

THE RESULTS?
This was REALLY good. Both my Mother in Law, my hubs and I thought it was restaurant worthy. My husband Steve works hard all day in construction, and when he gets home he is usually so STARVING he'd eat the pan I cooked the food in. As I sliced the sandwich into 4 and there was only 3 of us, I pretty much figured he would be going back for the last sandwich. To my surprise, he was completely satisfied after only one. This is an extremely filling sandwich. So full of delicious flavor and so hearty. This is a keeper.

The best deal I have found in a long time, were these pork shoulder roasts for $1 a pound. I challenged myself to slow roast the pork shoulders in a scrumptious way, and then transform the leftover meat each day this week into a completely different meal. We begin my Slow Roasted Pork Challenge with of course....the Slow Roasted Pork. I didn't want anything boring. If the lil guy wasn't full of flavor I couldn't get my hubby to eat it. He gets totally bored by basic home cookin', so I wanted to blow this one outta the park to get him interested. Luckily Apartment Therapy The Kitchn came to the rescue with her amazing slow roasted pork recipe. Rubbed with brown sugar, smoked paprika, and cumin and simmered in beer with onions and garlic. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Seriously good eats.

*Recipe by Elizabeth P. of The Kitchn
____________________________________________________________________

Makes about 5 cups of shredded meat

4 to 5 pound pork shoulder, bone-in
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onions, peeled and cut into wedges
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 12 oz beer (use chicken stock or water here if you prefer, but we used a brown ale and it was perfect)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

If the pork shoulder has any thick layers of fat you want to trim that off. Mix together the cumin, paprika, brown sugar, salt and pepper and rub it all over the pork shoulder. Let it rest with the spice mixture on for about 30 minutes.

Once the pork has rested, heat up a dutch oven with the olive oil over medium high heat. Place the pork inside and brown on all sides. Once it has a nice brown crust all over, remove from the pot and add the onions, garlic, tomatoes and beer. This is the part where you scrape up all the delicious bits off the bottom. Place the pork back in the dutch oven, cover and slow roast for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until the pork is extremely tender and pulls apart with a fork.

Remove the pork roast from the dutch oven to a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the meat and place on a platter. Remove any bits of fat. Serve the pork with mashed potatoes and steamed carrots and spoon the delicious sauce over the top. You can also puree the beer/tomato/onion mixture to get rid of any big chunks...it becomes a beautiful thick gravy that is just delicious. Enjoy every bite of this incredible roast.

If you want to stretch the pork leftovers to a week of exciting meals, you'll want to roast two pork shoulders at the same time. Double the spices to cover both roasts, but nothing else. Mine didn't fit in a dutch oven, but did fit in my big roaster. When you are finished roasting the pork and have shredded it, you should have between 10-12 cups of roasted pork.

When you puree the tomato/onion/beer mixture, reserve 4 cups of it for another meal. Serve the rest of the sauce with the pork along with about 2 cups of the shredded pork. You'll need the rest of the pork for the rest of the week.

Click here for a printable version of Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder
____________________________________________________________________

THE RESULTS?
We LOVED this pork roast. The brown sugar, cumin and smoked paprika rub is awesome. The meal is so homey and wonderful, but completely full of flavor. This is a GREAT way to roast a pork shoulder. I'm so glad I doubled this recipe for the rest of the week's delicious meals.

Wow Elizabeth. Incredible recipe.



Need to use up those leftovers? Try:

• Cuban Sandwiches
• Salsa Verde Mexican Stew
• Hoisin & Ginger Pork Wraps with Crunchy Peanut Slaw
• Pulled Pork Sandwiches
  

This recipe is being entered into this weeks' Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

I found pork shoulder roasts on sale a couple weeks ago for $1 a pound! I challenged myself to see if I could slow roast the pork and then stretch it to last all week. BUT...the meals have to be totally different each night and taste delicious. That was my challenge, now here's the meal plan:

Day 1: Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Carrots


Day 2: Cuban Sandwiches with Salad


Day 3: Salsa Verde Mexican Stew


Day 4: Hoisin & Ginger Pork Wraps with Crunchy Peanut Slaw


Day 5: Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Creamy Coleslaw


*Stay tuned this week for the recipes.

For more meal plan ideas check out my Complete List of Meal Plans or the Menu Plan Monday Links hosted at Orgjunkie.

It can be really daunting to want to invite friends or family over for a dinner party, only to be reminded that dinner parties can be EXPENSIVE. I was lucky enough to have our 7 Deadly Sins dinner party sponsored by Foodbuzz but for anyone else who doesn't have someone giving them the cash to throw a dinner party, here are some ideas for cutting down costs:

• Don’t get a babysitter

Our foodie friends Dan and Lisa have 6 kids and we have 2. That would be freakin' EXPENSIVE if we both got babysitters for our kids just to have a dinner party together. So....don't. We plan our dinner parties later in the evening, like around 7:30-8pm. We always go over to their place because it is bigger, with more room, toys, etc for the kids and it also makes it easier putting the kids to bed. We both feed our kids at home around 5:30-6pm or so, and then we go out to Dan and Lisa's place. They put a movie on for the kids so they are all in one room together, being quiet and out of the way. Then they put their kids to bed, and we use their playpen and put our kids to bed. Works out great! By the time we are eating and enjoying each other's conversations we are all kid free!

• Have a Theme

The theme really adds a lot of fun and pizazz to a dinner party. A theme also works to your advantage when you are trying to be frugal:

- Aggie's Kitchen had a great idea by throwing an Adult Pizza and Ice Cream Social. If you make your pizza dough and ice cream from scratch, and use produce and herbs you have growing in your garden, this could be an extremely frugal way to have fun with your friends.

- Or you could throw an Irish, (or if it fits a St.Patrick's Day) dinner party like Stiletto Money did. She used really inexpensive ingredients like potatoes, cabbage and corned beef and by having it centered around the Irish theme, it didn't seem "cheesey" to serve those items to her guests.

- Probably the most frugal dinner party I've ever seen was Nourished Kitchen's Recession-Proof Dinner Party. Neither she or her guests spent any money! Now that's the way to throw a frugal dinner party. The host provides a flavorful homemade broth along with homemade bread, and each guest brings an item they had in the fridge, pantry or freezer to go in the soup pot. Such a great idea.

• Limit the number of guests

This is pretty common sense, but if you invite more people it will definitely cost you more money to prepare food for them. Keep the number of invited guests smaller and it won't be such a strain on your budget.

• Choose your menu carefully

This is where planning your meal a week in advance really helps. You can watch your store flyers and the current sales & deals and plan your meal accordingly. With a little creative planning, you can also choose really inexpensive ingredients to serve like pasta. Fancy it up by making a homemade cream, pesto or tomato sauce and rather than using meat in the sauce, use portobella mushrooms and roasted red peppers. Your guests will feel spoiled yet you really didn't spend a lot of money. With a meal like that you just need to fill it out with some bread (homemade to make it cheaper) and a nice salad with homemade balsamic/oil dressing.

• Have your guests bring stuff

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of potlucks....you always end up with a weird assortment of food on your plate like stir-fry, pasta salad and jello with fruit. If I'm going to ask my guests to bring items, I would rather all the food center around one theme. I have a friend that likes to throw a Mexican Fiesta party a couple times a year. She provides the taco meat, soft and hard shell tortillas and then asks her guests to bring other items. Her guests bring things like salsa's, cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo, refried beans, guacamole, and Taco Rice with Corn and Black Beans. It's always super fun and delicious.

We also use that same idea for our International Dinner Club. We choose one culture's cuisine to focus on for the month, and everyone brings dishes from that country.

Even if you don't have your guests provide dishes for the main meal, you can always ask them to bring a bottle of wine or dessert. You are going through all the work of hosting, cooking, cleaning, etc, they really won't mind :)

• Homemade decorations add to the ambiance

You can really class up a meal by typing up the menu and and frame it with some cardstock. Super cheap, but looks so nice. That's what Five Spice Duck did for her dinner party and it looked great. You can also look around your house or out in the garden for really great centerpieces for the table. Some handpicked flowers, or even twigs and leaves in a beautiful vase can really add to the ambiance.


Dinner parties can definitely be done on a dime. So have fun and invite your friends over to share in some great food!

This was the brainchild creation of Dan for our Prideful Prawn appetizer at our 7 Deadly Sins dinner party. It was incredibly over-the-top with raspberries, cantaloupe squares, mini key lime wedges and chives as garnishes. Dan even peeled tiny little lime zest curly cues from the key limes that were ridiculously cute. With ribbon roses of Westphalian ham distributed throughout and painted arches of mango-chili reduction and dabs of raspberry lime coulis to finish the dish off. The entire masterpiece was served on top of a mirror to really emphasize the pompous sin of pride.

And let me tell you....IT WAS DELICIOUS.

We wrapped the shrimp with the Westphalian ham and scooped up the other sauces and fruit until the whole thing was an empty mess.


The best combination was the shrimp wrapped in Westphalian ham and dipped in the mango-chili reduction. Soooo yummy! If you've never had Westphalian ham before, it's very similar to prosciutto from Italy....it comes from Germany and has a smokey flavor. If you can't find Westphalian ham you could easily substitute prosciutto or even cooked bacon.

____________________________________________________________________

Serves 4 as an appetizer


8-12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails left on
8-12 slices of Westphalian ham
2 tbsp butter

Mango-Chili Reduction:
2/3 cup Mango nectar
1/2 Thai chili, deseeded and minced
1/4 cup sugar

To make the reduction, pour all the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Let reduce for 3-5 minutes until it becomes the consistency of a nice sauce. Remove from the heat and let come to room temperature before serving.

To make the shrimp, put a frying pan over medium heat along with the butter. Once the pan is hot, add the shrimp. It should take a couple minutes per side to cook the shrimp. They will turn bright pink and the tail will curl up. Don't overcook the shrimp. Remove from the heat.

To serve, you can either wrap each shrimp in a piece of ham or serve the shrimp on a plate with the ham curled into roses amongst the shrimp. Serve the mango-chili reduction for dipping.

Click here for printable version of Westphalian Ham Wrapped Shrimp with Mango Chili Reduction
____________________________________________________________________

THE RESULTS?
The combination of sweet, smokey and spicy is wonderful. I loved these shrimp. I had never had Westphalian ham before but I'm definitely going to create more dishes with it. And the mango-chili reduction...superb.